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Be it a booted call or dust-up with one or both dugouts, baseball’s boys in black are seen as villains more often than not.

For instance, take MLB umpire Jordan Baker, potentially the most well-known – but disliked – official currently at the big league level.

The rookie umpire’s bizarre tradition is causing quite a stir out west, where fans in San Diego recently jeered him between innings. In St. Louis a week later, Arizona Diamondbacks announcers took him to task for his rather disgusting in-game habit – throwing his gum into shallow left field throughout games.

So much gum, in fact, that by the end of a nine-innings, 20-some pieces typically litter left field.

It got so bad in southern California last week that Padres fans got into a back-and-forth with Baker, who at one point reportedly taunted fans who were giving him stick for his less than savory habit.

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While there’s no question baseball contains some of the most superstitious individuals in sports, grounds crews around the league likely shudder when Baker appears at their parks.